Last night I caught, from a distance, part of what turned out to be a new commercial for car manufacturer “Volvo.” My ears pricked up because it sounded like someone doing a cover version of Chimes of Freedom. I stopped and listened closer and realized it was Donovan’s Catch the Wind. Chimes pre-dates that, right? Maybe I’m the last person in the world to notice the similarity between the two songs. It put a question in my mind: with all the “love and theft” that Dylan has unabashedly engaged in – has he (or have his agents) ever sued anyone for copying one of his melodies? I don’t know of a case.

Can you imagine the outrage if Dylan did license Chimes of Freedom to Volvo? I was almost disappointed that he hadn’t.

All this probably explains an e-mail I received the other day from someone complaining that Dylan had “sold-out” by selling one of his songs for use in a car commercial. Apparently not – but there was that Victoria’s Secret commercial last year. How many times is it fair to accuse someone of selling out? The answer, my friend …

However, the Victoria’s Secret commerical had the redeeming quality of a lot of humor, a lot of weirdness, and that echo of Dylan’s comment from a 1960’s press conference (asked if he would ever sell-out to a commercial interest, he replied, “Ladies’ garments”). The Victoria’s Secret ad campaign using Love Sick also only ran for about two weeks. I don’t deny that it would be disheartening and tacky if a Dylan song were to be popping up every 15 minutes on a car commercial, although he has the right to do what he wants. Overall, I’d say he deserves credit for restraint and a certain amount of taste with his manner of “selling-out.”

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